Thursday, November 10, 2011

The End is Near!

Monday, I finished my last day of injectables.  Yay!  I was quite happy to finish my injectables as I was starting to have heaps of side effects - excessive vaginal discharge (so much that I had to wear a panty liner because I soaked through 2 pairs of scrubs!), really tender skin where it was beginning to hurt to give subq injections, bruising on my stomach after injections, extremely tender and sore breasts, constipation and an irritable mood.  At first the injectables just made me happy with no symptoms.  In the end, they were really starting to wear on me.

Monday at 2230, I took my hCG trigger shot (35 hours prior to retrieval).

Tuesday, I began my antibiotics.

Wednesday was egg retrieval day.  My sister took me to my appointment at 0830 for a retrieval by 0930.  My blood pressure was sky high for me (140/85) at admission because I was so nervous about being put under anesthesia and waking up in pain.  Luckily, I had my sister there to make me laugh and comfort me.  My anesthesiologist was phenomenal as well.  He put me at ease right away with his good nature and humor, and he really listened to me regarding my anesthesia fears.  I was under anesthesia previously for a tonsillectomy and had the worst time coming out of anesthesia - difficulty waking up and staying awake for over 24 hours.  I have the same issue when I take any prescription narcotics or other meds that say "may cause drowsiness".  In me, they ALWAYS cause drowsiness and it is typically a drowsiness I cannot easily shake.  I will often sleep for 12-18 hours straight after taking those types of medications.  So, it was wonderful to actually have him take me seriously and listen to my concerns instead of blowing me off.  He then gave me only 1/2 of the versed and fentanyl right before the procedure instead of the whole dose.

Before the procedure started, I asked my RE to look and make sure my eggs were still there prior to going under anesthesia.  I did not want to go under if I had already ovulated!  Thankfully, the IVF round was not a loss and I had not ovulated.

I was given versed in the pre-op room in order to calm my fears, and then I was given fentanyl when we were back in the procedure room.  After that, I do not remember a thing.  I was given propofol (yes, the Michael Jackson drug) and I went off to sedation land.

I woke up in my pre-op room, now a recovery room dimly lit with my RN sitting at my bedside charting my vitals.  She asked the usual questions - how did I feel?  was I in any pain?  did I feel nauseous?  I felt fine, actually.  Just a bit foggy in the brain, but otherwise, no pain and I woke directly after the procedure with no hangover.  That was the best thing!  I drank some apple juice and ate some pretzels and then they brought back in my sister.  The RN monitored my vitals for some time until all was good (BP now 114/72), gave me my post-op instructions and gave me my first progesterone injection - 0.25 ml with instructions to give myself another 0.25 ml that evening.

My RE popped in with the news that there were 7 eggs.  I was disappointed in hearing that as we had hoped that there would be at least 10-12.  It was disheartening, but I tried to think positively and hope for the best.

Going home, I was to continue with my antibiotics for 5 days and give myself 1 mL of progesterone every evening. They said they would then call me the following day with news of my eggs.

My sister then took me to Whole Foods for lunch, which was lovely.  I had a nice pretzel sandwich with field roast and a white bean and kale soup.  Yum!  It was nice to spend time with my sister and have someone with me who really cares about me with my husband being gone. She took really good care of me too!  My sister then drove me home, and I spent the rest of the day sleeping and resting - hoping that I would receive good news the following day.

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